Will of a Prince

Slimo struggled under Pops’ grasp, but he couldn’t break free.

However, despite the crazy reveal of Slimo’s real hair color, and possible criminal background, not a single person wasted a second in trying to save their guardian. Maria was the first reach Pops. She shot through the air, causing some of her friends she left behind to stumble. Maria’s face was red and furious. She crashed into Pops using her fist. Pops weas sent through multiple buildings from the force. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Slimo!"

She ran over and held him up. Doc was already tending to his wounds using his power. Slimo looked distraught as he ran his fingers through his hair. Small tears welled in his eyes and slowly fell down his cheeks. Jacob and Squabee walked in front of him. Jacob leaned in and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Slimo? Is everything okay?"

Slimo tried speaking, but no words were leaving his mouth. Only strange sounds as if he was choking on something stuck in his throat. Suddenly, he shoved everyone and dashed away before anyone could even register what was happening. Jacob watched him run.

"Slimo! Wait! Come back!"

Slimo ignored Jacob’s pleas and continued running until he was out of sight. Harold stared at the group bewildered.

"Should I run after him? What do we do?"

Doc raised his hand.

"There’s only a single person that I think can bring him back, but I haven’t seen her all morning. We need to find Lidia. Fast."

Squabee jumped on Maria’s back. Weirdly, Maria welcomed the small passenger on her back and prepared to take off towards the palace.

"Leave it to me and Maria! We’ll get her back in no time!"

Doc nodded his head then looked at Harold.

"Can you just keep track of him for us?"

Harold stretched his legs lightly.

"No problem. I’ll give you all updates when I can."

Harold disappeared in an instant, leaving behind a small dust cloud where he was standing. Jacob stared at the holes in the walls of the buildings in front of them.

"What do we do about that stupid bug?"

Gabriel cleared his throat before speaking.

"We need to rely on Lucy’s power here. If we can’t kill him, binding him is the only chance we have."

Right as he said this, Pops burst back through the front building. Even after taking Maria’s crazy attack head-on, there wasn’t as much as a scratch on his body. He cranked his head and looked at Jacob before laughing.

"I revealed that murderers true form, yet you all still follow him? Maybe I am the sane one after all!! I can’t wait to tell the queen!"

"Lucy!"

"On it."

Large Iron chains wrapped around Pops. Lee and Bart were strengthening them to their maximum potential... but it wasn’t enough. Pops ripped through them like paper. However, just as broke the chains, they all seemed to repair themselves and bind him again. Pops looked at the chains strangely and broke them again, but just like before, they instantly repaired.

Abby was continuously repairing the chains as they broke. Even though she never got much practice with her power, this was the perfect training session. Not only were the chains repairing themselves, but they seemed to be growing stronger with every repair. Pops was left in a standstill, struggling to rid himself of the unbreakable chains. Gabriel grew himself larger than the buildings and attempted to squash Pops.

Using one hand, Pops held up Gabriel’s foot and sunk into the stone street from the impact. He was using his free hand to continuously rip the chains more. Lucy extended the length of one of the chains towards Luna.

"Gabriel! On my mark, I need you to stomp this bug as hard as you can! Zoey and Serena, be my follow up. Steel, try not to get caught up in the crossfire."

Gabriel yelled back down.

"Ready!"

After another chain broke and instantly mended itself, Luna touched the end of her chain.

"Release!"

Gabriel lifted his foot and stomped as hard as he could. All of Pops’ body was frozen solid. When Gabriels foot collided with his arm, it was shattered into thousands of pieces. Zoey jumped towards him, catching herself on fire and wrapping her arms around him.

"Now, Serena!"

Zoey’s flames turned light blue as she held on to Pops.

"Die, you damn bug!"

Pops’ entire body was being incinerated at an insane rate. Everyone around Zoey needed to back up from the intense heat. Right as Pop’s body was burned beyond recognition, a loud beat sounded in his chest. HIs charred eyes opened and stared at Zoey with a smile.

"I must thank you all. Now flames or ice powers will never work against me!!"

Suddenly, a small chuckle started reverberating across the battlefield. Pops’ wounds slowly started to heal back to normal. His burnt flesh turned back to normal, his body reformed itself, and his strength felt like it was multiplying in Zoey’s grasp. Zoey gasped and shot away from him in shock.

"What the hell?! He can regenerate?!"

After Pops turned back to normal, he got on one knee and bowed his head low to the ground.

"My queen. I am ever so blessed by your presence once more. I hope you are impressed by my show that I have put on for you. I did everything in your honor."

Zoey stared at him dubiously.

"Q-Queen?! I’m not your queen you stupid bug! I mean, I am so amazing so it only makes sense that you would confuse me for one! But don’t call me that anymore! It creeps me out!"

Another laugh rang above their heads. Everyone looked around to see where the gentle laugh was coming from. On top of their house, there was a lady with short blue hair and azure robes. Her fingers were skinny and delicate as they held an emerald staff next to her.

"That is enough for today, Pops. Wouldn’t you much rather give me another performance instead of killing these people."

Pops appeared to rub his chin for a moment.

"Now that you mention it, my lady... I would prefer to do that! Your laugh is truly spectacular, my lady. It fills me with energy every time I hear it!"

"Thank you, my jester. Now, where is that handsome dark-haired fellow?"

"My lady, he was the infamous Slimo Kin of Paria Empire. He had a charm that was changing his hair color, but I destroyed it."

The queen scoffed.

"That’s such a shame. I think I prefer the dark hair more. Please return to the palace when you can."

"As you wish, my lady."

Jacob stared up at the beautiful woman with wide eyes. He didn’t know how to feel about the information. Pops seemed like a good person, but finding out about his killer impulses was off-putting to say the least. And then there was the issue with Slimo.